


Letting Go

by grimdigee



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Gen, Ghosts, Happy Ending, Hopeful Ending, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Hurt/Comfort, I hope, I swear it isn't AS confusing as it sounds in the tags and notes, I'm Bad At Tagging, Post-Episode: s03e14-15 The Boiling Rock, Post-Episode: s03e16 The Southern Raiders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Spirit Zuko, Spirits, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, ghost zuko, i guess?, kind of, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25639153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimdigee/pseuds/grimdigee
Summary: The kid turned to him, the grin had slipped off his face, and with it the wind started to freeze, somehow it chilled Zuko right down to his bones.“You let her go.” The young child said.Or, Zuko sees someone who died long ago.
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), I know it's really confusing you gotta read the story to understand, Zuko & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 255
Collections: A:tla, Fantastic A:TLA Fanfics!





	Letting Go

**Author's Note:**

> This one is probably kind of confusing... Hopefully the point comes across well...
> 
> Also just for safety:
> 
> National Suicide Prevention Lifeline  
> 1-800-273-8255
> 
> Even though this isn't a suicide / s*lf h*rm related fic, please be safe people...

Zuko stood, facing the abyss.

Clouds floating past at a casual pace, he didn't bother staring.

Instead, Zuko turned around, the large Air Temple was magnificent, dusty marble floors and high cracked walls.

That was something worth staring at.

Although he couldn't for very long, knowing he had to train.

It was hard to muster up the energy to do so, small flames flickered at the ends of his fingers, but they didn't come to fruition, instead they died where they were born, burning out in the cold morning air.

He felt numb.

The air grew frigid, it was so unnatural...

Someone laughed, he turned and he saw himself.

Burning, he was thirteen and he was burning.

But he was smiling too, the fire that lit his face ablaze was careening in the wind, full head of hair undone out of it's phoenix tail and falling down around his shoulders, breeze carding softly through it to make it dance.

The boy grinned at him.

“You're not going to last long, Zuko.” He said, brimming with childlike confidence, despite the words being so demented.

His younger self put his index fingers to the sides of his mouth, still smiling like he actually had something to be happy about.

“Smile, Zuko.” The kid chirped.

The fire ate away at the boy, his young self disintegrated before him, and the glowing ash flittered away in the air, it swooped down into the abyss with wings of fire, like the ghost of a young dragon, Zuko was left with only his thoughts.

His hand burned, and it took him a moment to realize the flames that died not even moments ago was back with fervor.

He didn't train that day.

…

Zuko watched the fire wave, smoke billowing out of it and diminishing at the ceiling.

After the trip to the Boiling Rock, he wasn't feeling too well.

Maybe it was the presence of a father, maybe it was something else.

He didn't ponder it, Zuko was used to feeling melancholy, and at least Sokka and Katara were happy right now, that's what mattered.

Zuko felt a chill go down his spine, not too different from the one he felt a few days prior, when he saw the spirit of his thirteen year old self, the boy who died in that fateful Agni Kai, against a man who held no love in his heart, a man who should have loved Zuko, a father, HIS father.

He slowly turned his head, feeling the pull of a gaze, something so familiar but so unlike anything he knew.

There he stood, the ethereal child, him, still smiling as wide as the day he drifted away.

Zuko broke eye contact, going back to stare at the fire and attempting to do his best at ignoring the ghostly presence.

Young Zuko wasn't going to take that though, if there was one thing that carried over into his rebirth, it was that he would always be stubborn.

He felt a cold hand press against the back of his neck, Zuko suppressed a flinch at the contact.

“You can't ignore me forever...” The child whispered.

Zuko didn't speak.

They sat like that through dinner, silence had fallen between the two and it was a game of endurance, who could outlast the other..

The rest of the group babbled happily amongst each other, leaving the disgraced Prince to his own devices.

He was more than happy to do so.

…

Since that night his ghostly self wouldn't leave him alone, the boy followed him everywhere.

And it was driving Zuko insane... Maybe he already was insane.

He watched the waves crashing against the sand of Ember Island.

The group of younger kids ran around playing, all but one.

The spirit sat next to him, staring at the ocean with him.

“Remember when our family was happy?” He asked, Zuko didn't answer.

He never did.

The kid turned to him, the grin had slipped off his face, and with it the wind started to freeze, somehow it chilled Zuko right down to his bones.

“You let her go.” The young child said.

Somehow that was what broke Zuko, he shot to his feet, running back to the old, creaky beach house.

He heard his friends calling out behind him but he blocked them out.

Zuko practically leaped up the stairs, bursting into his old childhood room.

He collapsed on the floor and sobbed openly.

Footsteps approached him quietly, and the way the room froze over told him exactly who it was.

“Leave me alone..” He choked out.

The child didn't stop, he came up behind Zuko once more and hugged him.

Despite the air being frozen around them from the spirit, his skin was unnaturally warm this time.

Zuko blinked, tears stilling on his cheeks as he sniffled.

He turned around, suddenly the air wasn't cold and the presence behind him wasn't himself.

It was Aang.

The Airbender looked up at him, worry painting his features.

“Zuko.. Are you okay?” He asked softly, rubbing comforting circles into the Prince's back.

Zuko had to think about it, honestly his silence was probably enough of an answer on it's own, but still, he shook his head.

“I think I'm going crazy..” He said shakily.

The boy behind him furrowed his brow, reaching a hand up to wipe the tears away.

“You've been seeing a spirit, right? I can feel him everywhere you go...” Aang revealed, Zuko grit his teeth at that.

“Then why didn't you say anything...?” He asked, voice trembling from his breakdown, he slowly rose from the floor to face the Avatar.

“I didn't know you could feel it too..” The younger boy said, twisting his hands together nervously.

There was silence between the two, Aang staring off at the wall, and Zuko staring at the floor, both taking in the situation carefully.

“It's.. Me, my younger self, from before I...” Zuko paused, raising a hand to touch the edge of his scar, luckily Aang immediately caught on, so Zuko didn't have to continue.

“How do I make it stop...?” Zuko finally whispered.

Aang smiled warmly at him.

“You make peace with it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Zuko was seeing the "spirit" of his young self, I say "spirit" because, while it took the form of a spirit, it was really something attached to him, the point was that Zuko has PTSD and the "spirit" was the "physical" form it took on, from his Mother's disappearance to his Father's hatred of him, Azula toying with him, and everything else that he struggled with.
> 
> Aang could feel the "spirit" because... Avatar, but I originally intended it as more of a... You gotta have it to know it, Aang also suffers from PTSD (even though it isn't mentioned in the story) and he knows Zuko does too, so when Zuko broke down on the beach, he knew that was why.
> 
> Or if you want, it was legit a spirit that was haunting Zuko and tormenting him, it honestly doesn't have to be that deep :')


End file.
